7 comments:

I really liked the idea of each ethical vegan being a victory as an alternative to welfare "victories."

Although I like this idea personally, from my research, it would not be as viable from an organisational point of view. The reason for this is that almost all animal advocacy organisations have a predominantly non-vegan member base - meaning "selling" ethical vegans as victories would be a tougher sell than welfare victories that are said to improve the conditions for the animals that most of these members are eating.

Nick, that is precisely why it is somewhat erroneous to call oneself an Animal Rights organization or an animal advocacy organization if you are invested in appeasing your membership rather than engaging in educating people to liberate animals. Groups try all sorts of ways to rationalize this betrayal.

Perhaps it is time to quit supporting such organizations that really do not support ethical veganism then? If the group would take a stand, perhaps their members would become invested in identifying with the new standard? I know from my own small AR group that, while all are welcome, we are very clear that we support veganism and do not support any use of animals. However, we are all in different parts of our evolution and are not here to judge but to help and educate others, while we ourselves learn more all the time.

I think it would be a great idea too, but I agree with you. Creating more ethical vegans doesn't seem as "exciting" as some of the "victories" that are claimed at times. I think, unfortunately, many of these claimed "victories" are more about the humans feeling good about themselves and being able to back-slap each other, than actual victories for other animals.

Nick, thank you for that most interesting and informative post. In some ways, even grassroots organizations have the same dilemma: how to interest enough people to be viable, how to gather funding and donations in a speciesist society, and how to get active in a way that promotes our goals without getting us shut down. I would say, however, that grassroots orgs have a different proportion of activity and energy with hopefully, more freedom (by design) to educate the public, take a stand for veganism, and stay true to purpose.

Cheers Barbara, yes these organisational considerations are an issue for most organisations, regardless of size. However, as you say, grassroots organisations have much more potential to promote veganism than larger organisations with paid staff etc. These larger organisations generally put very little effort into promoting veganism (if at all) - whereas for some smaller organisations, this is the primary focus.